making.
I took my Elantra to the Hyundai dealership. After examining the engine, the technicians determined the sound is being caused by a condition called "piston slap" and the engine needs to be replaced.
There is a defect in the way the engine was designed. Thanks to a class action lawsuit against Hyundai, Hyunda will be replacing my Elantra's engine and will cover 100% of the expenses.
Fortunately, I still had 15,000 miles left on my powertrain warranty. Other contributing factors for them covering 100% of the repairs are: I'm the original owner, of the Elantra, I bought the Elantra brand new at the dealership where the replacement will take place, and I had the oil changed regularly and all but 1 oil change performed at the dealership and the dealership has records of all of my oil changes.
From what I understand, the defect affects Elantras, Sonatas, and Tucsons built between 2011 and 2013 and is worse on vehicles in cold weather climates.
So, a new engine is on its way from South Korea. Once it arrives it will take technicians 2 days to install it. I'm looking at around 4 weeks in total for the engine replacement to be complete.
The cost for me to pay for the engine replacement would have been approx. $5,500. With the new engine, my car should last me at least another 100k miles.